Farmers Movement Archive

Locals hold the fort at Palwal

The farmers’ sit-in off the Delhi-Agra highway here against the three contentious agriculture sector laws has an attendance of around 2,000 daily, mostly locals from the nearby villages. More farmers from Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand are expected to join the protests soon. After two months of protest on the Delhi-Agra highway, which blocked traffic, hundreds of farmers from Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior and Bunkdelkhand, were forced to vacate the site in the wake of a clash between them and the local police on Republic Day. “The police action left several people, including locals, injured and tractors damaged on January 26. The police registered a case in connection with the violence and warned the farmers of legal action. It left the locals terrorised and the agitating farmers vacated the site,” said All-India Kisan Sabha activist Raghubir Singh. However, the locals came together to hold a “mahapanchayat” on February 1 and decided to start the sit-in again. Munshi Hari Singh Chauhan, running the community kitchen at the site, claimed that unlike the Tikri and Singhu borders, the local administration was cooperating with them and had provided them with water and power supply. Led by the leaders of 52 khaps (locally known as paals), the sit-in site attracts protesters from villages in Palwal and neighbouring Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Chauhan claimed that daily around 2,000-3,000 people were served food at the community kitchen, run with the support of the locals, and around 500 stayed overnight. “Thousands of farmers from Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand, forced to return, are also expected to join us shortly. Soon, it will be a bigger protest site than Singhu and Tikri, but we make sure to keep it peaceful and keep anti-social elements away,” said Deepak Chaudhary, who has been part of the protests since the sit-in was first started in December. Mr. Chaudhary said the farmers had assured the local administration that they won’t lay permanent blockade on the highway, but the traffic would be stopped for three hours on February 6 in response to the farmer unions call. ‘Ready to wait’ Rakesh, 27, conceded that a resolution to the issue was not in sight, but the farmers were prepared to wait as long as it took for the government to accept their demands. “Now the people have been awakened. It may take weeks, months or even years, but we are determined not to give up till our demands are met,” he said.

The Hindu

2021-02-06

PALWAL